The Legend of Spyro: the Dawn of Hope
by Telekinetic Moose
Summary: After narrowly escaping death on the Night of Eternal Darkness, Spyro wakes up to find the world in a state of war. As he struggles to maintain the balance within himself, Spyro must realise his destiny and bring peace to the world he has been absent from for seven years. Rated T just to be safe.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: This story is NOT a sequel to the Legend of Spyro: Dawn of the Dragon. It is essentially a replacement story to Dawn of the Dragon, as I found that there were many aspects of the story that did not make sense, or else were left unanswered or unexplained in that game. Some of the story elements will stay the same as the original DOTD, but most of it will receive a clean slate.**

**Disclaimer: I, Telekinetic Moose, do not own Spyro or any other related content. As if it wasn't obvious enough that I'm uploading this onto a website called FANFICTION.**

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_**Prologue**_

The tall figure shrouded in a crimson cloak knelt on the hard, dusty ground, a bow of yew notched and drawn in his hands, directed at a small clearing in front of the grey and brown foliage that concealed his lean and muscular form. Motionlessly, he awaited his prey. He did not know how long he had been there, only aware of the fact that, sooner or later, his target would pass by his hiding place, unsuspecting of his attack.

He had spied the enemy patrol whilst searching for food. The Shattered Vale wasn't renowned for the lush forests teeming with wildlife that Hunter was used to in his home of Avalar, so wild game was very hard to come by. Fruits and nuts were out of the question, as cheetahs ate only meat, and, from his father's stories, he was pretty certain that the same applied to dragons.

So, in an attempt to find some possible way of locating a wild animal, he had approached the tallest, sturdiest looking tree he could find and, due to his natural climbing skills as a cheetah, scaled it to get a better look at the desolate excuse for a forest. Even from a distance, the colossal form of the Mountain of Malefor loomed over the valley like a great brooding monster waiting to strike. The sight of the haunted mountain sent a chill down Hunter's spine, made even worse in the knowledge that he would have to return to its eerie caverns before long. Upon sighting the abominable landmark, he had uttered a silent prayer to the ancestors to shorten the time he had to stay in this bleak place. Seven years had been bad enough.

Almost immediately upon searching he realised that he was not alone. Roughly half a mile from his vantage point, a thin column of smoke rose steadily from a small thicket of trees. He quickly descended and went to get a closer look. Upon further inspection, it was easy to confirm Hunter's suspicions, although he could not tell how many there were. He had decided to lay in waiting for his foe rather than attack their camp, as he guessed that they would be most vulnerable when on the move. He theorised that they would most likely have guards and lookouts surrounding their camp, so a full on assault would be both dangerous and stupid.

_Although, I shouldn't give my enemy too much credit, _mused Hunter from his hiding place. _Apes aren't exactly famous for logical thinking._

The sound of footsteps caught Hunter's attention, and before long, a group of apes lumbered into view. There were six of them in total; the patrol leader, the largest one wielding a large hammer; an ape wielding a deadly looking sword; two small ape foot soldiers armed with nothing but their claws; an ape armed with a crossbow; an average-sized ape with one hand clasping a knife, the other holding the leash of a cruel-looking hunting wolf.

Quickly debating his first target, Hunter released the arrow, which buried itself in the throat of the crossbow ape. Before the ape had even hit the ground, a second arrow had already been loaded into the bow and found its way into the eye of the wolf. It wasn't until the third arrow punctured the wolf-guiding ape's heart that the rest of the group realised where the cheetah was shooting from. As the sword wielding ape charged at him, Hunter quickly launched an arrow between his eyes before vaulting over his falling adversary. He notched another arrow in mid-air and fired it into the skull of one of the small apes. He nimbly dodged the ape commander's hammer and clambered onto his back, where another of Hunter's arrows pierced the ape's head at point blank range. Riding his dead enemy to the floor, he easily shot the remaining ape in the back as it turned to get away.

Now that the threat had been taken care of, there came a much simpler task: looting the bodies.

He started by retrieving all of his arrows, as well as taking the ones from the crossbow ape. They were not of the same size or quality as Hunter's Avalarian Arrows, but they still worked reasonably well with his bow. He then searched through their supplies, hoping to find something, anything, of value. The sword was too large and clunky for Hunter's taste, but he did pocket the dagger, feeling that it would be handy to have a few extra blades.

He almost completely ignored the leader's hammer, and would have disregarded it entirely if he had not noticed a slight shimmering originating from it. Upon closer inspection, Hunter discovered its source: a small, yet extremely valuable, green magic gem.

For most creatures, a gem like this was absolutely worthless besides having monetary value. For dragons, however, even the smallest of gems could be the deciding factor in a fight. Hunter distinctly remembered his father recounting many such gems during his experiences with dragons: how red gems could heal a dragon's injuries, green gems could replenish their magical abilities; how purple gems could fill a dragon with explosive rage, and how blue gems, the rarest of the four varieties of Dragon Gems, could grant a dragon knowledge from the ancestors themselves and gift them with more powerful abilities. Hunter knew that what he had found embedded in the ape's hammer, the object that he now cradled in the palm of his hand, was worth more than everything else in his supplies put together.

As he opened his side pocket to store the precious stone in, something else caught his attention: a small, orange glowing something.

_I can't believe I forgot about this. _Hunter scolded himself, examining the glowing orange crystal shard. _Although I shouldn't be too surprised. It has been seven years, after all._

He pocketed both of the gems and turned his eyes towards the distant mountain that he had been dreading to return to. _This must mean… it's time! I can almost leave this place! _The thought filled him with a joy he hadn't felt in years. He could soon go home, to his father, to his village, to Neema.

He lifted his head to the sky and whispered "Thank you, Ancestors."

He almost left right then, but he quickly remembered something: the wolf. It wasn't exactly a delicacy, and he wasn't sure how much meat there was on it that could feed both him and two adolescent dragons, but that hardly mattered. Meat was meat.

Slinging the wolf carcass over his shoulder, Hunter set off for the Mountain of Malefor for what he hoped to be the last time.

XXX

Several hours later, Hunter emerged into a sizeable cavern deep within the mountain. The chamber was filled with rubble and debris, including the remains of what looked like a barbed steel throne. A small camp with a few bundles of supplies rested in the middle of the cavern, by which Hunter deposited his kill. Everything in the cave was illuminated by something so extraordinary that everything else near it paled in comparison.

A gigantic crystal stood sturdily near the edge of the cavern, supporting what looked like half of the mountain. A sunset orange in colour, the centre of the crystal was glowing with such intensity that looking at it had the same effect as looking directly at the sun in the morning. Suspended in the gargantuan crystal were three figures; a small golden dragonfly and an adolescent dragoness with glossy black scales, enfolded within the crimson wings of a male dragon of the same age with scales of a magnificent purple. The purple dragon, said to hold unbelievable power, on whose shoulders the fate of the world rested upon.

Hunter's attention was directed to the crystal by an ear-shattering echo as the crystal began to glow even brighter, each flash like the pulse of the living beings it contained. The front of the crystal began to crack, fractions of pure white light escaping from the fractures. Then, with an almighty crash, the centre of the crystal shattered and the cavern was flooded with light before fading into darkness.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Sorry that it's been so long since I uploaded the last chapter. Writer's Block is the bane of my life. I'll try to write these more quickly, but I'm not promising anything. **

**I'm not too proud of this chapter, but my Beta-Reader "Fire Shallows" seems to think it's fine. **

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Chapter 1:

Dawn of the Dragon

Blackness. No matter which way he turned his gaze, he could see nothing. Absolutely nothing whatsoever. There was no way to gain even a hint as to where he was, aside from the fact that he appeared to be lying on his front on hard, solid ground.

A scraping sound drew his attention and he tensed, painfully aware that there was someone, or _something_, in the darkness. The scraping continued, and a brief flicker of light a few feet away temporarily illuminated his surroundings, although not enough to get a good enough picture of the area. Another flicker, brighter this time, again brought a brief glimpse of light. The scraping increased in rapidity, giving off more frequent bursts of light, and he could see a figure crouching on the ground trying to start a fire.

"Who's there?" Spyro called out, trying hard to sound a lot braver than he felt. The scraping stopped, and the world became shrouded in darkness once more. After several tense moments, a voice answered him from within the black void, deeper and yet less harsh than he had been expecting.

"Do not be frightened, young dragon", it said, "I am a friend. I mean you no harm." The scraping continued, even more vigorously until, with a soft _whoosh_, the area around him became considerably warmer and a faint, flickering light met Spyro's eyes, allowing him to see the figure properly for the first time.

A tall, bipedal creature stood in front of him, a large crimson cloak draped over his well-toned body. He had orange fur dotted with patches of black, and his face had a feline look to it. A hunting bow and quiver of arrows were slung over his shoulder.

"Uh… I don't mean to be rude," Spyro stammered, slowly and achingly getting to his feet. "But who… and _what_… are you?"

"Ah, forgive my lack of introduction." The feline bowed his head in a sign of respect. "I am a cheetah from the land of Avalar. My name is Hunter."

"Hunter…" The name sounded familiar, although it tool several moments for Spyro to remember why. "You were a prisoner on that pirate ship! You wrote a letter to me, warning me that the Ape King was hunting me!"

The cheetah cracked a small smile. "I am glad to know that you remember one small deed after all of these years."

The euphoria at figuring out the stranger's identity faded from Spyro's mind as panic began to take over. _What does he mean, "After all of these years"? I escaped from the _Fellmuth _only a few days ago! _He looked to Hunter for an explanation, but the cheetah merely shook his head and said "I will explain later. It will be a lot easier for me to tell you when your companions are awake." He gestured to the two prone figures lying a few feet away from the purple dragon, which, up until that point, had gone completely unnoticed by him.

It took no time at all for Spyro to recognise them; the golden dragonfly, who looked dull and lifeless without emitting his usual soft glow; the dragoness his age, with glossy black scales, two rows of ivory horns and ruby red wings.

"Sparx!" Spyro called out, rushing towards his friends. "Cynder! Are you ok?" He gently nudged his dragonfly foster brother with his paw, before shaking Cynder's shoulder, desperately trying to rouse them both. After several agonising moments, during which Hunter tended the fire to ensure it didn't go out, Sparx groaned, lazily stretching out and flapping his wings as his body began to light up.

"Ugh… did I oversleep again?" he asked, rubbing his eyes as he began to hover at eye level with Spyro, who simply rolled his eyes, glad the dragonfly was awake and his annoying, joking self.

"No, Sparx, you didn't oversleep. You were just unconscious for a while. Spyro answered, before bobbing his head in Cynder's direction. "Help me wake her up."

"Why should I try to wake up the evil she-dragon who tried to kill us and led us to this god-forsaken place?" Sparx complained loudly as Spyro walked over to the unconscious form of the young dragoness. "It seems to me that I should-"

"Sparx," Spyro interrupted, annoyed at the dragonfly's unhelpfulness. "Stop talking. Either help me wake her up, or go do something useful." He then started shaking Cynder by the shoulder again and whispered her name into her ear frill as Sparx flew over to the fire, muttering to himself. After several minutes of gentle coaxing, the dragoness' eyes wearily fluttered open and she groaned. He slowly helped her to her feet and breathed a sigh of relief, thankful that she was unharmed.

"Spyro?" She mumbled, visibly struggling to remain standing. "What happened? Where are we?"

"I'm not sure, Cynder. Maybe Hunter can explain it to us." Spyro replied, supporting her with his wing.

"Hunter?" Cynder asked, utterly perplexed, as the purple dragon led her to the recently-lit fire. "Who's Hunter?"

"That would be me" the cheetah spoke, looking up from his work of skinning a large wolf to face the two dragons, who sat down by the fire. He then said to Spyro, "Shall I get started?"

Spyro nodded, eager to hear Hunter's explanation. _This should help to clear some things up._

"There is no easy way to tell you this, friends," Hunter sighed, "but… you've been gone from the world for over seven years."

Cynder gasped; Sparx gaped silently, trying in vain to find the correct words to express himself in this situation; Spyro merely said "How?"

"I… I'm not sure exactly, but…" Hunter hesitated, as if unsure how to best word his explanation. "…When I found you, the three of you were frozen in that giant crystal over there." He pointed to the remains of a colossal crystal, the centre completely shattered, the exterior still sturdy enough to support a large mass of rock above it. "That was over seven years ago. I've been here ever since."

The sight of the crystal seemed to trigger something within Spyro's mind, and he was temporarily overwhelmed as a flood of memories washed over him:

_The young dragon looked up in apprehension at the demonic mountain, the peak warped like a mouth, firing a beam of purple energy into the sky and reaching all the way up to the twin moons, only a few hours away from meeting at an eclipse that would shroud the world in darkness._

_Countless foul, rotting creatures swarmed the island amidst the green lake, lusting to spill the blood of the only living thing in their wake._

_The purple dragon's body was filled with energy from the eclipse and became wrapped in deep, black shadows, and mercilessly poured wave upon wave of dark energy at the large ape standing before him._

_The innermost chamber of the mountain began to collapse in a cascade of rock and metal, and the words of the Chronicler echoed within the young dragon's head as his body began to with a brilliant orange aura:_

"_Ride out this storm, and live to fight another day."_

XXX

"Spyro?"

He couldn't believe this. He had been frozen for seven years!

"Spyro?"

What had changed in that time? How far had the Dark Master's forces spread?

_The Dark Master…_

"Spyro!"

The Chronicler had said that the Dark Master would be freed that night. Cold, irreplaceable fear gripped his heart like a steel vice. _He's free. The Dark Master has been free for seven years. He's had more than enough time to-_

"_SPYRO!"_

"What?"

Inches from his face, Sparx was hovering in front of his eyes, wearing an irritable expression. Cynder and Hunter were looking at him with a mixture of apprehension and concern.

"Are you ok? You kinda just zoned out for moment. I know this is tough to take in, but-"

"Hunter," Spyro interrupted, choosing his next words carefully to try to remain as calm as possible. "The Dark Master… has he…"

The cheetah nodded gravely. "I am afraid so. He returned shortly after your disappearance. Although none of us have seen him in the flesh as of yet, his forces have greatly increased in number and have fought more fiercely than they have for generations. The world has become a much darker place, Spyro."

The reality of what had happened hit Spyro with the force of an ape's hammer, and he was momentarily lost for words, before finally being able to say what was on his mind. "I… I've failed… They were all counting on me, and I failed… The entire world was counting on me, and I FAILED!" Anger replaced his sorrow as he said this, stunning the others at his sudden outburst. "How could I have let this happen!? I was supposed to save the world, but instead, I abandoned it to _Him!_" He turned away from his friends, unable to look at them as shame and rage threatened to overwhelm him.

"Spyro…" The tenderness with which Cynder spoke his name forced Spyro to look around as the dragoness stood beside him and draped her wing over his back. "You shouldn't blame yourself. It was beyond your control. It's not your fault."

Spyro felt there was some truth to her words, but this didn't help him feeling responsible for the state the world was in now… however bad _that_ was…

He suddenly didn't want to be around them anymore.

"Leave me alone." He said harshly, brushing Cynder's wing aside with one of his own and walking away from the fire, stopping to collapse onto the ground only when he was a good distance away. Conflicting emotions boiled within Spyro like the fiery magma from the Munitions Forge as he tried to get to sleep, but over all of them, one thought raged inside of his head:

_I have failed._


End file.
